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August 22, 2017

I am in the process of moving all my "want to keep" stuff to the new home on Wordpress. You can see what I am doing over there at Some Days There's Pie. Please join me there... follow, like, save the address to come back again and again. I am excited about sharing our new adventures with you.

July 26, 2017

Book 3 in the Prince Edward Island Dream series has just been released. My girlie and I have thoroughly enjoyed this series.

I just finished reading the third book and it is just as enjoyable as the first two. Marie, Seth, Jack Aretha, Caden and Adam are all back for a new adventure along with an old friend and resident of the island named Natalie. Natalie returns home to plan her wedding but her troubled past will make the whole process harder than she could possibly imagine.

We get to enjoy Rose's Red Door Inn bed and breakfast and it's guests along with the local diner, and a local dairy farm and it's owners this time around. Caden is still cooking up the best breakfast in the area as the executive chef of the inn. She is continually delighting all of her guests on a daily basis while teaching a cooking class and working part time with a cooking school for teens. There is lots of local color on the shores of Prince Edward Island including an old lighthouse.

It is a sweet but twisty story that keeps you guessing right up to the very last chapter. There are beautiful pictures of love and forgiveness that permeate the stories of the people of the island. I would give this one a 4 out of 5 as well. It is a delightful series.

This book was sent to me free of charge by the Revell Publishing branch of Baker Publishing. The only thing they ask in return is that I read the book and give an honest review. I gladly recommend this Christian fiction series to you!

July 20, 2017

Vacation, for us, is almost over. I think we have about a week and a half before the routine starts back up with band rehearsal and getting a girl ready to go back to college. We are headed into back to school mode very quickly. I am trying to squeeze the last bit of luxurious laziness out of what is left of our days.

This particular weekend there happens to be a 24 in 48 hour readathon. I have signed up and have two books that I need to work through before I make the August TBR. Check out the website link above for more details. I will try to post my plan tomorrow here. I hope you can join us!

It is such a great blog! I am thrilled and honored to be a very tiny part of what they share with the public. They also have two cookbooks and you can find more from them on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.

July 02, 2017

I am always ambitious with my stack but rarely read more than three books a month. Here is the stack I have in the TBR for the month of July. I have four in progress already...

Pursue the Intentional Life by Jean Fleming (my devotional read for the month with 31 chapters)

Basic Christianity by John Stott (our Saturday night study group read which won't be finished in July)

On Love's Gentle Shore by Liz Johnson (a review book but I have read the other two in the series so it is also for fun)

The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jefferies (been in progress for quite some time and is also a review read)

The other books on the list are new reads for me except Write His Answer by Marlene Bagnull... this one is a reread for me.

A few of these are for research purposes for me... the Faulkner and the Sjogren's Syndome book serve that purpose this month. The Jacobs and the Scott books are just for fun... You guys might like Jennifer Scott's YouTube Channel, too.

I mentioned above that Pursue the Intentional Life is my "devotional" reading for the month. It just happens to have 31 short chapters and it is the second book I have read by Fleming. She is charming! I am so in love with her books and plan to buy all of them at some point. Her spirit is so humble and lovely. She truly loves the Lord! Her books are the kind of reading that makes one feel like they are having coffee with a beautiful friend and mentor. It is truly a gift she has for sharing her walk with those of us coming up behind her. I wish I had a best friend like her in real life that I could spend time with. She is precious! (and she has a blog post archive!)

Feeding Your Soul is a must read, too... I read it a few years ago and it is in the Autumn reading plan again this year.

I was also excited to find out that they did a video series with her on this particular book through the In-courage YouTube channel. I plan to use it as I read this month. You can find the first three chapters here and that will link you to more if you are interested.

Let me finish by saying this.... God's word is what we use as our guide in this life. It is first and foremost the only book we truly must read daily. I also feel, however, that finding like minded writers and their testimonies and words are a great place to be, too. If you are reading God's word daily you will know the authors that are speaking truth. If, at any point, you find that the lines are blurred then you must put other books down and go back to His word only to ground you. I am a firm believer in reading God's word... knowing what He says... and testing all things based on HIS instruction. If it does not line up with God's word then we don't need to read it. Be careful... be diligent... be a Berean as you read! (I linked Acts 17 for the story of the Bereans but it is Acts 17:11 to be specific)

What is on your reading list right now?

Is there a devotional or spiritual book that has blessed you?

Feel free to share a favorite scripture with us that God is using to teach/comfort/encourage you right now!

July 01, 2017

July brings us to the halfway mark of our year. It feels like a good time for a "do over" doesn't it? Maybe you started the year with certain goals and ideas and they took a turn along the way or fell by the wayside.

I started the year a bit unsure of where I was going in 2017. I turned 50 in December and just had so many things rolling around in my head about that. I became a grandmother and the school year quickly ended last month and I am looking at another senior year with our third child and our youngest is in 8th grade. I need for this year to slow down!

First I started 2017 without a theme. That was quickly remedied as I started reading books for the year. God has repeatedly thrown the themes of Sabbath, slowing down, clearing out, empty nesting, marriage focus... in my path with all I have been reading and with sermons at church.

About six weeks ago I was reminded that there are three kinds of Sabbath in the Bible... a weekly Sabbath, a seven year Sabbath and a Year of Jubilee every fifty years. I am fifty.... THIS IS MY YEAR OF JUBILEE!!! Realizing that has clarified what God is showing me through all of this.

In a Year of Jubilee it seems everything STOPS! There is a rest for the land and the people. It is a year of freedom... slaves were set free to go back to their families and their homes. It is a year of celebration. There were no days of planting or harvesting so the land had an opportunity to rest. Property was returned to it's original owner. Money issues were settled with the cancellation of debt. It is a year of truly trusting God and recognizing that He is the creator of all things. His command is to rest and when Israel did not heed that command they were taken into captivity. It is to be sacred... and holy!

If you want to know more about this you can head over to Leviticus 25.

Now, I know this was in regard to the commands given to Israel but let's play WHAT IF....

What if we did this when we turned 50?

What if we took a year off from the crazy and the busy and we just focused on God and our family?

What if we focused on paying off our debt.

What if we spent more time taking long walks and listening to beautiful music.

What if we spent time celebrating with our family.

What if we loved our lives and growing older instead of dreading it?

What if we focused on the Holy things of God and the sacredness of all that He has done for us?

What if we said no to the things that crowd out that still small voice?

What would happen?

I wish that I had thought about these things before I hit 50. I wish I had planned for a Year of Jubilee in my own life. I am grateful to Barbara Rainey and Susan Yates for addressing this in their book on Empty Nesting that I just finished. I wish I had read it sooner... BUT....

Guess what... it is not too late! I am going to start right where I am. If I am truly honest I have to say God has already been pushing me in this direction since around November of last year anyway. I was just not listening closely enough. Sometimes He has to hit me over the head to get my attention! LOL

There have been a lot of things I have let go over the past year and I have planned days to stay home and days of recovery much more with the autoimmune issues. I have listened to more music and read more books. I have eaten more with my family and focused on so many blessings. It has not been perfect but I can see God's hand in slowing me down. I can see that He has been speaking and showing me what He wants. I need to hear better!

The rest of 2017 will look a lot more like a Year of Jubilee for me... intentionally. I am in the process of changing my focus for the fall and building a Sabbath time for each week. I am saying no to everything that takes my time away from family with the exception of my little part time job. We are paying down debt as quickly as we can and cooking more together, eating together, playing together. I plan to continue to read the Bible daily (50% of the way through already), read more books (my goal is 40), sit outside, take walks, take a tea time again, enjoy my meals more, go to bed earlier and sometimes sleep a little later and certainly relax more. I will take more pictures and play more music. I will journal, write, blog, vlog, be grateful... much more often than I do now! I will not let my Year of Jubilee go by unnoticed. I plan to celebrate and live it well.

So, what is God showing you this year?

Are you planning any special goals and such for the second half of 2017?

Welcome to my blog...

Hello, my name is Leann (wife and mom of four). I love Jesus and am not ashamed to say it out loud. I write about food, family, books and other creative endeavors. I write to encourage women to look for the joy in their daily lives. I do this to encourage women to celebrate their home and family life. I hope your time here brings you encouragement as you move through your days.